Sixth Grade
Sixth graders engage in a variety of learning activities and projects. Activities include annual Shakespeare and folk tale performances, Renaissance and Silk Road Bazaar role plays, a planetary research project, plate tectonics-building and experiments with igneous rocks. Students also attend annual art/architecture field trips, as well as places like Diana Wortham Theatre and the Warren Wilson College challenge course. In sixth grade, we focus on community building efforts. We “grow” our community through class meetings, team-building activities, group projects and experiential field trips.
About the Sixth Grade Staff
John, a National Board Certified educator, has a long history with ArtSpace, beginning in 2003. He was the ArtSpace Teacher of the Year in 2008-09, and North Carolina Charter School Teacher of the Year in 2009-10. He also served on the State Superintendent’s Teacher Advisory Council in 2010 and 2011. He earned his B.A. in Humanities from Milligan College and has taught for 17 years. A professional entertainer, John enjoys performing in theatre and cabaret in the Asheville area. He also enjoys attending local theatre productions featuring former students, as well as hiking and reading. John has a daughter, Anna Kate, a graduate at Catawba College who has followed in her father’s acting footsteps.
Marni joined the ArtSpace faculty in 2006 and was Teacher of the Year in 2013-14. Marni holds a BFA and a MEd from West Virginia University. Marni lived in Taos, New Mexico for 5 years where she began her teaching career in an Expedition Learning Outward Bound school. She directed a camp in the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and she also taught 6th grade at a charter school in New Mexico. In her free time, Marni enjoys spending time with her son, husband, and dog, reading, and exercising.
